I've found that, from Project's perspective, the files should always
have exactly the same file name all the time. It my be superstition and
I cannot "prove" it works (since it requires proving the negative case
of no corruption), but it seems to work to avoid file corruption issues
related to linked subproject and resource file.
Remember that Project stores the entire full path for linked files.
therefore avoid situations where file full path will change, depending
on the state of the computer connecting to the source of the files (file
server, SharePoint, local drive, etc.)
For example, a file on a file server could be:
Mapped Drive: L:\projects\projectA\mpp\example.mpp
UNC File: \\servername\\sharename\projects\projectA\mpp\example.mpp
In the above example the exact same file can look to Project as being
different. There are reports that when Project sees linked file name
changes then it leads to corruption.
So I try to ensure all files *look* to Project as being exactly the same
all the time by doing things like:
: Create a "standard" on the c: drive for all project files, e.g.
c:\projects\projectA\mpp\ for all mpp files for Project A.
: Put copies of those file onto a file server for backup and for others
on team to use (if appropriate)
: if others on team use, then they are required to *copy* the files down
from the File Server to their own c:\projects\projectA\mpp folder.
: all files for the project go there: shared resource files, subproject
files, master files.
Do not copy from source mpp files on file server into the person's
private profile space, e.g. in a folder under "My Documents". This is
because these full path names are different for each user, e.g. for me
on this XP machine it is C:\Documents and Settings\Rmschne\My
Documents\projects\projectA\mpp. note "rmschne", my login id, in the
path name. This will be different for each person and that will, I
think, confuse Project.
In larger team environments, I setup a library in SharePoint (or some
other collaboration tool that can do file version management). We check
out, then copy the files into to the designated space on the c: drive
for working on them. Then when done upload and check in. This approach
provides easy versions control for going back, file backups, etc. Even
better use a tool like Colligo to automate this file synchronisation
between SharePoint and the c: drive.
But at this point, I probably am going over the top in explaining it.
The basic thing is to keep it simple by making sure that Project always
sees all filenames it has linked to be always unchanging. That is
possible with the above "protocol" of finding an place where the file
neame never changes and use it for everyone.
--rms
www.rmschneider.com
